Roundup

"I'm Not Racist, I'm Just Mad Amazon is Destroying Tolkien's Middle Earth with Black Hobbits"

by Mary Rambaran-Olm

Viewer complaints that Amazon Prime has defiled the author's fantasy vision with "wokeness" ignore the historical diversity of the medieval society on which Tolkien based his works. 

Parental Rights Crusades Often Conceal Other Motives

by Edward Larson

Public schools have always been about more than academics, so it's important to look carefully at the actions of any group claiming to represent the parents' role in education. 

What Does it Mean for History that Gen Z Can't Read Cursive?

by Drew Gilpin Faust

Today's college students are the vanguard of a cursive-free world. It may not be so great for the study of history. 

What "Parental Rights" Debates are Getting Wrong

by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

The success of the right-wing Moms For Liberty organization in raising fears of critical race theory and gender ideology obscure other historical models of parental activism; a cartoonish image of parents as reactionaries prevents dialogue that can get parents productively involved. 

Barbara Ehrenreich's Legacy is More than "Nickel and Dimed"

by Lynne Segal

The late writer's contributions to keeping a current of socialist radicalism in the feminist movement deserve recognition, too. 

"The Woman King" Softens Truths of the Slave Trade

by Ana Lucia Araujo

The film has a delicate task: showing the involvement of the Kingdom of Dahomey in selling other Africans to European slave traders without feeding narratives that blame Africans for the slave trade. It largely sidesteps this history instead. 

Queen's Funeral Reflects Centuries of Ritual

by Emilie M. Brinkman

Since the rise of the Tudor dynasty, the occasion of a royal funeral has been an opportunity for the successor to demonstrate their authority by ostentation and pomp in remembrance of a predecessor. 

When the News of a Royal Death Arrived Slowly, it Changed American History

by Helena Yoo Roth

The void of power in the American colonies created by rumor of the death of King George II was critical to loosening the monarchy's claims to rule in North America. 

The Roundup Top Ten for September 16, 2022

The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

Black Historians Know There Has Never Been Objectivity in Writing the Past

by Keisha N. Blain

"Black historians have long recognized the role of the present in shaping our narratives of the past. We have never had the luxury of writing about the past as though it were divorced from present concerns."

Ken Burns's Holocaust History Has a Palestine Problem

by Rafael Medoff and Monty Noam Penkower

Although there was no sovereign government in Palestine between 1933 and 1945, British authorities there admitted a quarter million Jewish refugees. The filmmaker's focus on "sovereign" countries' record admitting refugees burnishes the Roosevelt administration's record. 

Centuries-Old Union Busting Playbook is Alive and Well

by Henry Snow

Since the days of labor agitation in the Royal Dockyards in the 18th century, employers have fought collective action by workers by keeping them separate and isolated. Modern unionization drives need to recognize and overcome this tactic. 

Mourn the Queen, Not the Empire

by Maya Jasanoff

As the head of the postwar British Commonwealth, the Queen symbolized the effort to put the brakes on the global wave of decolonization, including deadly and secret campaigns of state violence in Northern Ireland, Kenya, and elsewhere.

Barbara Ehrenreich Challenged Readers to Examine Themselves

by Gabriel Winant

The journalist and social theorist wrote to force her readers to examine their own positions in society's hierarchies, not to encourage cynicism of futility, but to encourage them to see change as a long haul. 

The Historical Roots of "Florida Man"

by Julio Capó, Jr. and Tyler Gillespie

The internet meme "Florida Man" signals a caricature of the presumed recklessness and ignorance of the state's population. But these stories have a long history of justifying colonialism and profiteering in the Sunshine State, and stand in the way of progress today. 

Today's Book Bans Might be Most Dangerous Yet

by Jonna Perrillo

Today's book banners have broadened their attention from communist themes in textbooks and are attacking young adult literature titles that students are choosing to read, a much more significant intrusion on freedom of thought. 

Celebs Using TR's Quote are Missing the Point

by Michael Patrick Cullinane

Like so much of the past, Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" speech has been hijacked by the cult of individualism. Its real message, about our collective obligations to work for democracy, need to be brought back to light. 

What's in Store for American Religion When Faith in God is Waning?

by J.L. Tomlin and Thomas Lecaque

Two historians address the recurrent American preoccupation with gauging the nation's religiosity and issuing dire warnings about the disastrous results of a decline in piety. 

The Promise and Peril of the "Third Reconstruction"

by Peniel E. Joseph

At a time when the nation is balanced precariously between advocates for multiracial democracy and white nationalists, it is important to understand the history and the incompleteness of the expansion of freedom and democracy during Reconstruction. 

How a Major Christian News Organization Lost its Way

by Marvin Olasky

The Christian news magazine "World" once combined a religious perspective with editorial independence and investigative reporting. Today's Christian nationalist climate has no room for that, says the former editor.